The ballet L’après-midi d’un faune (or The Afternoon of a Faun) was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes, and first performed in the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on May 29, 1912. Nijinsky danced the main part himself.  via

” ….a young faun meets several nymphs, flirts with them and chases them, was deliberately archaic. In the original scenography designed by Léon Bakst the dancers were presented as part of a large tableau, a staging reminiscent of an ancient Greek vase painting. They often moved across the stage in profile as if on a bas relief. The ballet was presented in bare feet and rejected classical formalism. The work had an overtly sexual nature for its time and ended with a scene of simulated masturbation….. “

Ruth St. Denis ~ costume of India, Needlecraft, 1931. via

Legato ~ Cleo Damianakes, etching on paper, 1934. via

sydneyflapper:

Jos. Rentmeesters

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vintagegal:

Josephine Baker photo by Adolph de Meyer c. 1925

The Athenian ~ Georges Barbier 1921.  via

Brygos painter-‘symposium scene: a reclining youth holds an aulos in one hand and gives another one to a female dancer’-attic red-figure kylix-(490-480 BC)-Vulci London-British Museum (E 68)  via

‘Dancing among the swords’ ~ Henryk Hector Siemiradzki (1843-1902) - oil on canvas- (1879-1880) Moscow-Tretyakov Gallery.  via

Christmas Turkey Cook Dancing ~ Léo Fontan, La Vie Parisienne, 1920 via

“Nautch girl of Ulwur,” an engraving from ‘India and its Native Princes’ by Louis Rousselet, 1878.  via

“East Indian dancer, a photogravure by Edwin Lord Weeks (published by D. Appleton, 1880)  via

Dancer ~ vintage erotica via